Australian VR tech features at the Venice Biennale

A massive visual art installation incorporating virtual reality technology from South Australia will be exhibited as an official Collateral Event at the 2019 Venice Biennale.

 

Adelaide-based VR production business Jumpgate VR collaborated with artists James Darling and Lesley Forwood to bring their immersive work Living Rocks: a Fragment of the Universe to life for the prestigious event.
Jumpgate VR Managing Director Anton Andreacchio said the art project provides a platform for the company to further develop their technology for a range of applications in the creative industry.
“We supported this first and foremost because it enabled us to step into a place where we would never have been able to go,” Andreacchio said.
“This is a chance to be at the forefront of tech, not pixels, but on the conceptualisation of what tech is and how humans can interact with the technology.”
“Quite a lot of the time we put the technological cart before the horse of human experience and to have [Darling and Forwood] at the helm of this essentially asking questions that weren’t limited by their understanding of the tech, it was just what they believed and what they envisaged, then it was up to us to push our boundaries to figure out how to rise to the challenge.”
The installation in the Magazzini del Sale depicts an origin story of life on earth. Its centrepiece is thrombolites sculptures hand-made from mallee roots by Darling and Forwood. Thrombolites are microbial structures that were the only living organisms on earth for three billion years and created the beginnings of the planet’s atmosphere. The thrombolites used in Living Rocks are based on those found at Lake Hawdon in South Australia’s south.
Andreacchio said the 3D VR projections, which play on a 20-minute loop, are designed to compliment the sculptures to deliver an immersive experience for audiences.
“Our primary role was the development of the moving image, so interpreting James and Lesley’s vision, but not just creating it as a once off [and] giving them the time and space to explore things has very much been a conversation on what’s possible as the project evolved,” Andreacchio said.
“This has included construction of what the world used to look like in 3D which has been a big challenge considering we’re rendering this in 26K, whereas films are typically between 2K and 4K.”
“We went out to Lake Hawdon and used photogrammetry to reconstruct the thrombolites that were out there, taking photos from multiple directions then reconstruct the 3D geometry as well as work closely with the scientists that James and Lesley were consulting with to get their feedback on the work as well.”
As part of the showcase, the thrombolites slowly emerge from a shallow 30-metre-long pool filled with water that is surrounded by an expansive ...

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